Page 394 of Steamy Ever After

“More like us being an open book to each other. That’s buried deep in chapter twelve. You’re going to have to stick around to turn all those pages.” He points toward my uncle who slowly lowers into Sara’s car. “Give me a sec.”

Drake kisses my brow, then jogs out to Sara’s car. They put their heads together and glance up and down the street. Drake bends over, also looking at the paint.

I join them.

“Hey, what’s up?” My cheery voice doesn’t match the frown on Sara’s face.

“Some punk kid keyed my car.” She points to a long scratch in the paint. “I’m so pissed.”

In broad daylight?

Drake’s brows push together as he scans the street. I thought small towns were supposed to be safe, but it looks like that may no longer be true.

“How often does something like this happen around here?”

I liked living in Redlands. It’s a great location, a couple of hours from the beach as well as the mountains, but I never really felt safe when I was alone.

At night, I thought long and hard about going anywhere alone. The parking lots needed to be well lit, and there had to be a lot of people around. To see vandalism like this in Peace Springs is worrisome.

“Don’t worry, Sara.” Drake stands. “I’ll call Henry and we’ll get it fixed.”

“Thank you.” When Sara rests her hand on Drake’s arm, the urge to knock her hand off his arm overwhelms me. Which is weird. I’m not the jealous type, but Drake’s mine.

Sara moves around to the driver’s side, leaving Drake and me staring at each other.

“I really wish I’d known you were coming here. I would’ve joined you.” Drake takes my hand in his, threading his fingers with mine.

“That would’ve been nice, but it was a spontaneous thing.”

“I had some errands to run in town, but I need to head back out.” Drake grips the back of his neck. His gaze heats and jacks up my pulse. “Any chance you can join me tonight?”

“I’d love to, but I don’t know where you live.” Why did I say it like that? All hesitant and unsure?

“It’s not hard to find me, city girl.” His low chuckle makes my insides flutter.

It’s because he makes me nervous. Things between us are moving fast. Maybe I should pump on the brakes and take a breather?

It makes sense, but is that what I want? His warm, masculine scent floods my entire being, warming me up from the inside out. It’s a message telling me to grab hold and hang on. Doesn’t do anything to settle my nerves.

I want another night like last night. A movie date and what followed in the back of his truck. But I don’t want all of our time together to be about sex. There’s so much I want to know about him, like how he got that scar.

“Then it’s a date.” Drake leans down and presses his lips lightly to my cheek. “I look forward to seeing you later tonight.”

With those words, Drake releases me. I slide into Sara’s car and we head back to the clinic. Uncle Pete appears more tired than I anticipated, which works to my advantage.

I take over all of his appointments for the day, meeting the people who will become my future patients.

It’s good to be practicing medicine again.

The afternoon is long, but I’m in heaven. When Uncle Pete and I leave the clinic, I walk on cloud nine. All my fears about stepping into the role of town doc dissipate. My confidence returns, surging within me. I won’t have the years I wanted, working beside my uncle, but my practice is good.

Solid.

I can do this.

I help Uncle Pete out to his car, tired, but jazzed by a wonderful first day. When we get to his car, I can’t believe my eyes.

All four tires are slashed.

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